Ecosystem function in complex mountain terrain: Combining models and long-term observations to advance process-based understanding
Abiotic factors structure plant community composition and ecosystem function across many different spatial scales. Often, such variation is considered at regional or global scales, but here we ask whether ecosystem-scale simulations can be used to better understand landscape-level variation that mig...
Published in: | Journal of Geophysical Research: Biogeosciences |
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Format: | Article in Journal/Newspaper |
Language: | English |
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2017
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Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1002/2016JG003704 |
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ftncar:oai:drupal-site.org:articles_19811 2023-09-05T13:23:51+02:00 Ecosystem function in complex mountain terrain: Combining models and long-term observations to advance process-based understanding Wieder, William R. (author) Knowles, John F. (author) Blanken, Peter D. (author) Swenson, Sean C. (author) Suding, Katharine N. (author) 2017-04 https://doi.org/10.1002/2016JG003704 en eng Journal of Geophysical Research: Biogeosciences--J. Geophys. Res. Biogeosci.--21698953 articles:19811 ark:/85065/d7jm2cjs doi:10.1002/2016JG003704 Copyright 2017 American Geophysical Union. article Text 2017 ftncar https://doi.org/10.1002/2016JG003704 2023-08-14T18:47:26Z Abiotic factors structure plant community composition and ecosystem function across many different spatial scales. Often, such variation is considered at regional or global scales, but here we ask whether ecosystem-scale simulations can be used to better understand landscape-level variation that might be particularly important in complex terrain, such as high-elevation mountains. We performed ecosystem-scale simulations by using the Community Land Model (CLM) version 4.5 to better understand how the increased length of growing seasons may impact carbon, water, and energy fluxes in an alpine tundra landscape. The model was forced with meteorological data and validated with observations from the Niwot Ridge Long Term Ecological Research Program site. Our results demonstrate that CLM is capable of reproducing the observed carbon, water, and energy fluxes for discrete vegetation patches across this heterogeneous ecosystem. We subsequently accelerated snowmelt and increased spring and summer air temperatures in order to simulate potential effects of climate change in this region. We found that vegetation communities that were characterized by different snow accumulation dynamics showed divergent biogeochemical responses to a longer growing season. Contrary to expectations, wet meadow ecosystems showed the strongest decreases in plant productivity under extended summer scenarios because of disruptions in hydrologic connectivity. These findings illustrate how Earth system models such as CLM can be used to generate testable hypotheses about the shifting nature of energy, water, and nutrient limitations across space and through time in heterogeneous landscapes; these hypotheses may ultimately guide further experimental work and model development. Article in Journal/Newspaper Tundra OpenSky (NCAR/UCAR - National Center for Atmospheric Research/University Corporation for Atmospheric Research) Journal of Geophysical Research: Biogeosciences 122 4 825 845 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
OpenSky (NCAR/UCAR - National Center for Atmospheric Research/University Corporation for Atmospheric Research) |
op_collection_id |
ftncar |
language |
English |
description |
Abiotic factors structure plant community composition and ecosystem function across many different spatial scales. Often, such variation is considered at regional or global scales, but here we ask whether ecosystem-scale simulations can be used to better understand landscape-level variation that might be particularly important in complex terrain, such as high-elevation mountains. We performed ecosystem-scale simulations by using the Community Land Model (CLM) version 4.5 to better understand how the increased length of growing seasons may impact carbon, water, and energy fluxes in an alpine tundra landscape. The model was forced with meteorological data and validated with observations from the Niwot Ridge Long Term Ecological Research Program site. Our results demonstrate that CLM is capable of reproducing the observed carbon, water, and energy fluxes for discrete vegetation patches across this heterogeneous ecosystem. We subsequently accelerated snowmelt and increased spring and summer air temperatures in order to simulate potential effects of climate change in this region. We found that vegetation communities that were characterized by different snow accumulation dynamics showed divergent biogeochemical responses to a longer growing season. Contrary to expectations, wet meadow ecosystems showed the strongest decreases in plant productivity under extended summer scenarios because of disruptions in hydrologic connectivity. These findings illustrate how Earth system models such as CLM can be used to generate testable hypotheses about the shifting nature of energy, water, and nutrient limitations across space and through time in heterogeneous landscapes; these hypotheses may ultimately guide further experimental work and model development. |
author2 |
Wieder, William R. (author) Knowles, John F. (author) Blanken, Peter D. (author) Swenson, Sean C. (author) Suding, Katharine N. (author) |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
title |
Ecosystem function in complex mountain terrain: Combining models and long-term observations to advance process-based understanding |
spellingShingle |
Ecosystem function in complex mountain terrain: Combining models and long-term observations to advance process-based understanding |
title_short |
Ecosystem function in complex mountain terrain: Combining models and long-term observations to advance process-based understanding |
title_full |
Ecosystem function in complex mountain terrain: Combining models and long-term observations to advance process-based understanding |
title_fullStr |
Ecosystem function in complex mountain terrain: Combining models and long-term observations to advance process-based understanding |
title_full_unstemmed |
Ecosystem function in complex mountain terrain: Combining models and long-term observations to advance process-based understanding |
title_sort |
ecosystem function in complex mountain terrain: combining models and long-term observations to advance process-based understanding |
publishDate |
2017 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.1002/2016JG003704 |
genre |
Tundra |
genre_facet |
Tundra |
op_relation |
Journal of Geophysical Research: Biogeosciences--J. Geophys. Res. Biogeosci.--21698953 articles:19811 ark:/85065/d7jm2cjs doi:10.1002/2016JG003704 |
op_rights |
Copyright 2017 American Geophysical Union. |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1002/2016JG003704 |
container_title |
Journal of Geophysical Research: Biogeosciences |
container_volume |
122 |
container_issue |
4 |
container_start_page |
825 |
op_container_end_page |
845 |
_version_ |
1776204410200784896 |